UTILIZATION OF WATER QUALITY INDEX TO ASSESS THE OVERALL WATER QUALITY IN UPPER 
MISSISSIPPI RIVER

Valerie Kimler and Chulsung Kim

Department of Natural and Applied Science, University of Dubuque, Dubuque, IA 
52001

      Efforts have been performed to evaluate the overall water quality of upper 
Mississippi River using the indicator of Water Quality Index (WQI) especially 
focusing on the water quality change over late summer and early fall. Two 
sampling sites close to city of Dubuque were selected representing different 
geographic activities. Nine primary parameters including temperature, pH, 
dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand, nitrate, phosphate, fecal coliform, 
suspended solid as well as turbidity were determined for water samples either 
on-site or at laboratory. The WQI was calculated based on the collected primary 
parameters. With the assessed WQI values for one season, while the upper 
Mississippi River water quality is not at risk, it sure can be improved 
significantly. The detailed WQI results as well as the relationship between the 
primary parameters will be discussed during the presentation.

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